Rapids Waive Scottish Duo

New year, new news.  Colorado waived defender Danny Wilson and midfielder Sam Nicholson today.  Wilson first joined the team as part of the influx of players Anthony Hudson brought in in 2018.  After a much-to-large contract to start given his leve3l of play his second contract came down to a reasonable level for an decent starting defender in MLS.  Unfortunately over the years MLS's level rose while Wilson's didn't (and arguably declined) to the point where he's really only backup quality now, and we're paying him more than that.  He gave us good service over the years and hopefully he's successful moving on.

Sam Nicholson first joined the team in 2018 under Hudson as well, and was a solid player in his first stint, and a fan favorite.  During the pandemic he was released due to family issues that needed him to return home, and played for two years for Bristol Rovers before returning to the Rapids in the summer of 2022.  Unfortunately by that time the progress of the league had moved past Nicholson and he was unable to bring that same level of impact to the team.  It was clear last year that he wasn't going to be more than an occasional bench player going forward.  Releasing him also frees up an international slot.

Both these moves were necessary to move forward, and its more of the rebuilding we all knew needed to happen.  The Rapids now have 24 players under contract, including Generation Adidas draftee Kimani Stewart-Baynes.  At last report they were still negotiating to bring Yarbrough back, but the rumors around Steffen suggests that they expect to move on from him.

Coaching Rumors. Injury News, Oh And We Have A Game

The Rapids play in Dallas tomorrow, the rescheduled game from last Wednesday's rainout.  There's nothing on the line so we're mainly going to focus on the news this week.  We'll get back to the game later.

The big news, well more like pretty much confirmed rumor, is that Jack Wilshere is on the Rapids list of coaches they are considering.  Wilshere is a former Arsenal and England midfielder who retired after the 2021-22 season (he played for Danish side AGF that season) and was immediately hired as Arsenal's U-18 coach.  Last season he took the U-18s to the FA Youth Cup final.

Obviously I think we would hope that we could sign a coach with extensive first-team experience, either in MLS or an equivalent or better league.  Before Fraser we had a long list of coaches getting their initial shot at managing first-team club football.  The reality of the situation though is that we've fired our last three coaches with multiple years left on their contracts and given KSE's lack of investment we have to assume that we don't have a big number to dangle in front of a name coach to want to come into that situation.  Given that I don't mind us looking a bit "outside the box".  I'm not sure Wilshere is the right match for us, but at the same time in this situation I doubt any name we hire is going to feel like the right match.  At the very least hiring Wilshere would at least get some eyeballs on the team.

In other news Colorado announced today that Sam Nicholson underwent surgery on his ankle to relieve an ongoing problem he's had for most of the season.  Recovery time is 12-16 weeks so he would be back around the start of the 2024 season, which he's under contract for (and the team has an option on him for 2025).  This is obviously a "season-ending injury", for the 2 games of this season that are left.

Back to tomorrow's game, kickoff is at 6:30pm.  Dallas is hanging on to the last playoff spot in the West but with this game in hand they can clinch their spot in the postseason and move up to a position where they would avoid the play-in game.  Meanwhile as I mentioned the Rapids are guaranteed to finish last in the West and next-to-last overall in the league, the only thing to play for is two wins in our final two games would avoid our worst season ever.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (surgery), D Moise Bombito (Team Canada), D Alex Gersbach (surgery), D Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), M Danny Leyva (U.S. Pan-American Games Team), M Max (removed from team activities), M Sam Nicholson (surgery), F Diego Rubio (Team Chile)

Well, we got Tavares back at least.  I expect, given the wide swath of our team that's unavailable, he'll get some playing time.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  This was my prediction 10 days ago and the only thing that's happened is that we have even less players available.  I don't see any reason to change it.

Rapids Bring Nicholson Back, Reportedly Extend Esteves

Colorado made two roster moves today, one officially and one reportedly.  The bigger of the two (and the official one) is bringing winger Sam Nicholson back for a second stint in Commerce City.  Nicholson originally joined the Rapids in a trade from Minnesota in 2018 in exchange for Eric Miller.  He stayed with the club up until the COVID shutdown in 2020.  I had heard rumors Sam didn't want to leave Colorado but had to for personal reasons, and the club wanted to bring him back after his contract with Bristol Rovers was up.  Those rumors turned out to be correct today.

We signed him for 2.5 years (through 2024) with a club option for 2025.  He was a regular starter for Fraser in 2019 and the first couple of games of 2020 before the COVID shutdown, so he should have no problem fitting back into the style of the club.  At 27 now the added experience should help push the likes of Lewis and Barrios to step their game up or see their minutes lost to Sam.  Nicholson isn't the difference between winning MLs Cup and falling short, but he's a solid signing that should help the team.

The other reported move today (by Yahoo Sports) is that the Rapids have extended Lucas Esteves' loan from Palmeiras for another $200K, with the same clause to buy him for $1M.  And that $1M is only for 50% of his rights, it sounds like Palmeiras wants to keep 50% of any sell-on, so they are essentially valuing him at $2M.  This is the right move as Esteves has shown glimpses of being a strong left back (or maybe left winger) in MLS, but not enough to justify dropping $1M on him.

Rapids And Nicholson Mutually Terminate Contract

Surprising news this afternoon as the Rapids announced that they had reached an agreement with Sam Nicholson to terminate his contract.  There are some reports that Nicholson has an ongoing personal issue back home in Scotland, and the official announcement states that this decision is what's best for Sam and his family's well-being, which does seem to lend credence to those reports.

First of all, obviously, we hope that whatever is going on with Nicholson and/or his family turns out for the best.  Sam has been a fan favorite since he got here and I have heard nothing but good things about  him.  This is not how you want to see a players' time with a team end.

As far as the on-the-field impacts, the Rapids should be able to absorb Nicholson's departure without too much drop off.  As it was he was likely to see his playing time reduced with the addition of Benezet and Galvan.  He was already in a three way battle with Shinyashiki and Lewis last season, plus the wing is one place where we can get Rubio on the field with Kamara.  We'll miss his speed from time to time but overall I think we'll be ok.

Woke Up To A Deadline Trade!

The MLS trade deadline and transfer window closed at 11pm last night.  There was some talk about Aigner possibly being moved but nobody really expected any other moves.  Everyone was surprised waking up this morning to find out that Minnesota and Colorado worked out a deal late last night.  Defender Eric Miller and $50,000 in GAM was sent to Minnesota in exchange for winger Sam Nicholson and the international spot we need to add him to the roster (the spot goes back to Minnesota at the end of the year).  Reports are that Minnesota is picking up most of Nicholson's salary as well as taking on Miller's.

This looks like, at worst, a swap of spare parts by both teams.  Miller didn't appear to be in the plans under Hudson and he's from Minnesota so he gets to go home.  Nicholson has been playing for United and the fans there seem less than pleased about the trade but he wasn't in their plans.  If things turn out for the better the Rapids likely got the better of the deal.  I could see Nicholson in the 18 in KC with our issues at right wingback and he could rotate both at wingback and possibly in the midfield if necessary.

While we're talking about the roster we should catch up on some other loan moves that have happened in the last few weeks that I got behind on reporting due to my job search (a concern that is now solved, thankfully).  Niki Jackson and Sam Hamilton are now currently on loan down in the Springs with the Switchbacks.  Meanwhile goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra was recalled from Charlotte before last week's game with Howard suspended and Academy keeper Kainoa Likewise went to Charlotte in his place.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Dykstra return in the near future now that Howard's suspension is over.  The full list of loanees is below:

Charlotte:
GK Kainoa Likewise
D Sam Vines
M Ricardo Perez
F Caleb Calvert

Colorado Springs:
M Sam Hamilton
F Niki Jackson

Phoenix:
D Mike DaFonte